Raw milk farmer applies to set aside ruling that prohibits production of unpasteurized dairy

Raw milk farmer Alice Jongerden on Thursday applied to the Supreme Court of B.C. to set aside a 2010 court order that prohibits her from producing and packaging unpasteurized dairy products.

The court ruled last March 18 that raw milk is a health hazard, upholding an injunction sought by the Fraser Health authority to shut down the Home on the Range dairy in Chilliwack.

Jongerden ran the dairy as a cow-share in which 400 members owned shares in the farm’s 22 cows and were entitled to the milk and other foods produced by their animals.

“[Alice] Jongerden says that the prohibition against fresh [raw] milk in the province of British Columbia infringes the right to nutritional choice and her long-term health choice protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said Jongerden’s lawyer Jason Gratl.

The right to nutritional choice is implied by the right to life, liberty and security of person, Gratl said.

“The creation of fresh milk in this province carries a maximum penalty of 36 months in prison and a $3 million fine,” Gratl said. Jongerden’s application claims the penalties offend the principles of fundamental justice.

Fraser Health issued a cease-and-desist order last spring to farmer Alice Jongerden and her Home on the Range dairy for violating the Public Health Act, which forbids the distribution of unpasteurized milk and dairy products. They backed that order by securing a court order prohibiting Jongerden from producing milk for human consumption and finally charged Jongerden with contempt of court for continuing to operate the dairy.

Jongerden resigned as the agister (livestock manager) of the dairy to avoid being convicted of contempt of court. Ontario raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt has taken over the operation of the dairy, which now packages its products as cosmetics for the shareholders.

Wow. I don’t drink milk myself – never liked the taste – but anybody knows that raw foods that have been consumed by humans for thousands of years are healthier. Enzymes, vitamins and beneficial bacteria (you know the kind big corporations now put back IN to milk after they cook it) are wrecked by heat processing. Unbelievable that prohibition of alcohol has been mostly repealed, but prohibition of farm-fresh milk — something my grandfather grew up on and swore by — can land you in jail for THREE YEARS. What kind of fascist country IS Canada???